Taste Holdings bets the farm on bling
Time will tell whether the decision by Taste Holdings to stake its future on jewellery pays off
As you walk through the security door of an Arthur Kaplan store, you can’t but be dazzled by the bling on display: rings, watches, bracelets and necklaces.That you’re there to part with some serious cash on Omega, TAG Heuer or Rolex watches is clear, hopefully, for owner Taste.But just how lucrative is the jewellery business in SA? This is the question, especially now that Taste Holdings — a company once synonymous with some of the fastest-growing fast food brands in the country — has staked its future on this segment of retail instead.Taste abandoned its food service ambitions in 2019 as it buckled under the financial strain of trying to roll out international brands Starbucks and Domino’s. The rights to Starbucks were sold, followed swiftly by Maxi’s and the Fish & Chip Co — businesses on which Taste built itself into a listed contender against Famous Brands and Spur.Now, instead, its competition are the likes of Browns, high-end jewellery outlet Charles Greig, TFG’s American Swis...
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